Accreditation

[gocds]

If you're going to be an engineer, as long as you drive that train better than anybody else, it won't matter if we're accredited or not!!

You DO know that they have those practice tracks right out back of the Speed School, right.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[beantowncard]

As an engineering major at U of L I take offense to that the accreditation deal affects my major the most from what I've heard and to my knowledge SACS did not take issue with the previous board. You are dead on in the fact that academia is run by liberals, but you have to play by their "rules" if you will because this accreditation thing is totally decided upon by them. It's a bad situation, but pure bullheadedness from Bevin will not appease SACS in the least. He needs to learn to work well with others on this and not try and step on any toes. Do whatever they say to get the accredidation off of probation. That's what's most important.

SACS probably didn't care whether the board was properly constituted or what the motives of its members were. But when the board was suddenly and arbitrarily dissolved without due process, and the president effectively removed, it appeared to be a chaotic and rudderless ship and they pulled the trigger on probation. This says nothing, really, about the quality of scholarship at the university or the degrees they confer. The problem is pretty far removed from the day to day instruction and research at U of L. It's really unfair that this should reflect on the students and faculty, but that's the way accreditation works.

 

[Cardinal Cash]

SACS probably didn't care whether the board was properly constituted or what the motives of its members were. But when the board was suddenly and arbitrarily dissolved without due process, and the president effectively removed, it appeared to be a chaotic and rudderless ship and they pulled the trigger on probation. This says nothing, really, about the quality of scholarship at the university or the degrees they confer. The problem is pretty far removed from the day to day instruction and research at U of L. It's really unfair that this should reflect on the students and faculty, but that's the way accreditation works.

That's what I've been saying to my friends here at u of L. When we graduate in 2018 with a degree from U of L and really nothing has changed, although our coursework requirements changed in 2015 slightly, I don't see why that would affect our hireability. The problem has nothing to do with my class work and everything to do with politics and the BOT. Why should someone sitting on the other side of the interview table care about that?

 

[Guardman]

That's what I've been saying to my friends here at u of L. When we graduate in 2018 with a degree from U of L and really nothing has changed, although our coursework requirements changed in 2015 slightly, I don't see why that would affect our hireability. The problem has nothing to do with my class work and everything to do with politics and the BOT. Why should someone sitting on the other side of the interview table care about that?

They won't.

 

[KingHenry_X]

If students at UNC are not worried about the quality of their degree, UofL students shouldn't lose any sleep.

 

[ajgcardman]

• Beshear created very politically unbalanced board; I can't confirm or refute any allegations that he "sold seats for political contributions" (just wondering...if this is true, why wasn't this ever publically or legally challenged??)
• Nobody seemed to care about the imbalance until Justice Resource Center filed suit against state (Gov Beshear) for racial imbalance
• Court settlement reached which mandated new Gov Bevin make immediate appointments to correct imbalance. (Up until this point, as a UofL grad, I supported Gov Bevin's position & attempts to fix embarrassing problem).
• But Instead of complying with Court settlement (and gaining political favor by publically exposing ex Gov Beshear's past transgressions), Gov Bevin chose to instead abolish entire board, restructure its size, and rename 10 new members...all through Executive Order.
• I believe he screwed up here by abusing his Executive privilege. I was really glad to see the executive action legally challenged by the Attorney General because protecting the constitution by preserving the separation of powers is much more important to me than what poor choices we may have ended up with on our board at any given time. It very well could have been a devastatingly bad move "politically" for AG Beshear to challenge legally, since he is the ex-Gov son, but it was absolutely his duty/job to do so. Took some guts, and I admire him for that. My opinion then was that the board can always be easily improved over time (perhaps quicker by Gov asking for a couple resignations), but allowing blatant abuse-of-power actions to occur without legal challenge can set devastating precedent for future generations. For me, Gov Bevin made this a much bigger deal at that point (although many just don't seem to care at all about this, which really blows my mind).
• As you know, AG Beshear sued & won. I believe the Gov was trying to fix the problem, but made a bad move to do it, and the attempt for a quick fix just invited another legal battle and lengthened the process for UofL.
• The court, I'm my opinion, ruled correctly when siding with the AG. It didn't help, though, that the judge was Phillip Shepherd, who has past ties with high ranking Democrats. I still think he ruled correctly, but knew the Appeals or Surpreme Court would have final say.
• Republicans win control of Legislative Branch on Election Day, and waste no time swiftly passing a law (along partisan lines) that permits Gov Bevin to do exactly what he attempted to do by executive order....remove board, reduce size, and put 10 of his appointees in place.
• Meanwhile, court case from his executive action continues to Supreme Court. Likely will be upheld, if allowed to proceed, but won't affect new board created with law change.
• New legislature will then reconvene next week and will work to pass new law that will allow same process to occur at every public University in the state (you should all be concerned with language in this impending bill). He may be about to get the power to abolish, restructure, and appoint every member of all state universities including UK, EKU, WKU, NKU, Murray, & Morehead (and so will all future Govs who have control of both state legislative houses).
• To conclude, I like our new board. It's an improvement to the old one. I don't like the process we used to get there. I don't think our Accreditation is in jeopardy, but we could remain on probation a while, which will hurt. I'm far more concerned with the power we may be vesting in our Governor (when same party controls legislature) to abolish, restructure, & re-appoint entire boards. These boards are supposed to protected from this. I hope the Accreditation agency sees this in a better light than I do.

 

[gocds]

Ajc I will only address "bullet #1 and the final bullet". Bullet #1: you should have questioned why all of Beshear's "moves" were also not questioned by the curious urinal. I think we all know that they loved Beshear and have an "axe to grind" with UofL. Always have had and always will. Final Bullet: first, let it be said that I'm a Democrat (like you) and most of us never, but never complained when our state government was in total control of our party, but, mostly I agree with this final bullet. Besides all of this, please keep up the good work.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

 

[ajgcardman]

Ajc I will only address "bullet #1 and the final bullet". Bullet #1: you should have questioned why all of Beshear's "moves" were also not questioned by the curious urinal. I think we all know that they loved Beshear and have an "axe to grind" with UofL. Always have had and always will. Final Bullet: first, let it be said that I'm a Democrat (like you) and most of us never, but never complained when our state government was in total control of our party, but, mostly I agree with this final bullet. Besides all of this, please keep up the good work.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!

Appreciate your response & opinion, gocrds. I said nothing about the CJ, though. They, collectively, are just one voice, and we ALL have a voice, and shouldn't be afraid, or suppressed in any way, of forwarding it. It's what truly makes America "already" great in my opinion.

I simply asked why opposition forces haven't proven this allegation legally, or through the Ethics Commission? I don't know the answer, which is why I asked the question. But common sense tells me that a lack of evidence exists to win that challenge/assertion. This isn't about "D" and "R" to me. It's about following the law. I never defended the board imbalance under Beshear's watch, in fact, I've always placed blame where it was deserved (regarding that)...on him. If he "sold" those seats, he needs to be held accountable for it. But you and others should know that there is a distinct difference between "selling the seats" and "appointing people that have supported you." The former is criminal, while the latter is probably standard practice, which is one reason why terms are staggered on boards to limit executive powers of complete turnover/undue influence. Again, I don't know the truth, but I'm skeptical of some of the rumors/informal allegations that have been discussed on the matter, and until I see more proof, simply dismiss as nothing more than party politics.

"Biased" mainstream media is a problem, no doubt, but not nearly as much as rampant made-up stories for pure profit ("fake" news) that pollute our social media outlets. It's very difficult for us to find the truth these days without extensive research/review, and nobody seems to have the time or focus to achieve it...and that's a HUGE problem for all of us.

I'm going to stop here, because I don't want to continue a political discussion on a UofL sports forum. Go Cards!

 

[gocds]

Appreciate your response & opinion, gocrds. I said nothing about the CJ, though. They, collectively, are just one voice, and we ALL have a voice, and shouldn't be afraid, or suppressed in any way, of forwarding it. It's what truly makes America "already" great in my opinion.

I simply asked why opposition forces haven't proven this allegation legally, or through the Ethics Commission? I don't know the answer, which is why I asked the question. But common sense tells me that a lack of evidence exists to win that challenge/assertion. This isn't about "D" and "R" to me. It's about following the law. I never defended the board imbalance under Beshear's watch, in fact, I've always placed blame where it was deserved (regarding that)...on him. If he "sold" those seats, he needs to be held accountable for it. But you and others should know that there is a distinct difference between "selling the seats" and "appointing people that have supported you." The former is criminal, while the latter is probably standard practice, which is one reason why terms are staggered on boards to limit executive powers of complete turnover/undue influence. Again, I don't know the truth, but I'm skeptical of some of the rumors/informal allegations that have been discussed on the matter, and until I see more proof, simply dismiss as nothing more than party politics.

"Biased" mainstream media is a problem, no doubt, but not nearly as much as rampant made-up stories for pure profit ("fake" news) that pollute our social media outlets. It's very difficult for us to find the truth these days without extensive research/review, and nobody seems to have the time or focus to achieve it...and that's a HUGE problem for all of us.

I'm going to stop here, because I don't want to continue a political discussion on a UofL sports forum. Go Cards!

Your comments are appreciated along with your good works. I certainly appreciate your comment about this not being a D vs R thing but rather simply following the law.

GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!